UNITED
NATIONS, July
21 -- Saudi
Arabia, which
announced a
$100 million
payment to the
UN for a
counter-terrorism
center then
used the
threat of
withdrawing
that and other
funding to get
removed from
the UN's
Children and
Armed Conflict
list for
Yemen, is now
said to want
to buy an
Under
Secretary
General post
with the
money.

Sources tell
Inner City
Press that
Saudi Arabia
is a proposing
a new Under
Secretary
General
position, that
it would
control as for
example France
has controlled
UN
Peacekeeping
for two
decades, for
counter-terrorism.

It would be
above current
Counter-Terrorism
Executive
Director
Jean-Paul
Laborde --
Inner City
Press asked
Laborde about
it on July 22,
he said he
preferred to
discussion
action and
effusively
praised USg
Feltman -
we'll have
more on this.

The UN
Secretariat of
Ban Ki-moon's
bungling of
Yemen
mediation has
become ever
more clear,
according to
multiple
sources and
documents
exclusively
seen by Inner
City Press,
see below.

Now Ban's
bungling and
worse have
become more
public. He put
Saudi Arabia
on the annex
to his
Children and
Armed Conflict
report, for
what it has
done in Yemen.
Then he
reversed
course - and
when slammed
by human
rights groups
and others,
had first his
officials,
then on June 9
did himself,
spin scribes
about how he
had been
blackmailed,
how he had
only sold out
in order to
help
Palestinians
who would be
left without
aid.

Now Ban is
debased as
well. After
being made to
wait 45
minutes to see
the Saudi
crown prince,
on July 13
when Inner
City Press
showed up to
cover Ban's
3:30 pm
meeting with
Saudi foreign
minister
Al-Jubeir, it
was told it
was delayed,
then put over
to the next
day.

On July
13 Inner City
Press came
through the UN
metal
detectors
early, to
cover the 9:15
am rescheduled
Saudi meeting
with Ban.
After being
screened
again, on the
37th floor
Inner City
Press was told
that Al-Jubeir
would again be
late.

Finally the
press was
brought into
Ban's
conference
room. Arriving
were Jeffrey
Feltman, with
whom Inner
City Press has
been informed
and reported
Al-Jubeir
already
engaged to get
off the CAAC
list, Chef de
Cabinet Edmond
Mulet, Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson --
who it was
said would
take the
meeting, since
Ban had to
leave on a
trip including
to a meeting
also attended
by
ICC-indicted
Omar al Bashir
-- Leila
Zerrougui,
Andrew Gilmour
and spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric.

After yet more
delay, Ban
emerged from
his office,
said to be
better
air-conditioned
than the rest
of the UN
these days,
and greeted
al-Jubeir
after he shook
hands with
Feltman. Tweeted
photos here and
here.
Ban began some
wooden
comments then
Dujarric
gestured to UN
Security to
remove the
press. At the
elevator, some
Saudi
representatives
were trying to
come in
without any UN
IDs at all.
How did they
get to the
38th floor?
We'll have
more on all
this.

Earlier
on June 10,
the UN Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit told
Inner City
Press it could
not attend a
Western Sahara
briefing in
the UN
Delegates
Lounge to
which it had
been invited.
This is
censorship.

On April 15,
the eve of
eviction,
Inner City
Press asked
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed
to respond to
Ali Abdullah
Saleh, to a
large rally on
March 26,
saying he
would not work
with the UN on
anything.
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed
replied he
does not
comment on
public
statements,
just the
presence of
Saleh party
members in the
negotiations.

On
March 28,
after
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq had
refused to let
Inner City
Press ask
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed a
single
question at
his length
press
conference at
the UN, Ban's
top lawyer
issued a
threat of
imminent
eviction
threat to
Inner City
Press.

Not
surprisingly,
particularly
given
Feltman's
witch hunt,
some viewed
the UN's
escalation
against Inner
City Press as
a response to
its
publication of
UN leaks.

On
March 29,
Feltman wrote
to Inner City
Press and we
publish it in
full:

"Dear
Matthew,

On
Yemen:
Your job is to
publish what
you consider
to be
news. My
job includes
the protection
of what is UN
sensitive
information.
So we are
naturally
going to be at
odds over
things such as
leaked
e-mails;
that's just
part of the
respective
roles we
play. I
don't blame
you for
publishing
what you had
-- were I a
journalist, I
would likely
do the same --
but you are
surely
sophisticated
enough not to
be surprised
that I would
try to stop
leaks.

As for your
status at the
UN, you are of
course welcome
to continue to
send e-mails
to me, but, as
I expect you
know, others,
not DPA, have
the
appropriate
responsibilities
in this
case.
DPA is not
involved.

Jeffrey
Feltman
Under-Secretary-General
for Political
Affairs
United
Nations, New
York"

Feltman
cc-ed his
spokesman, who
ironically
used to work
at Amnesty
International.
Feltman's
statement that
the
retaliation
against Inner
City Press is
only
attributable
to Cristina
Gallach's DPI
does not wash.
While not
absolving
Gallach, it
goes to the
top. We'll
have more on
this.